Okay, I've just read several reviews that tear this book apart because of the rape scene at the start of the novel. I must say that while many of you may be shocked, terrible things like sexual assault occur all the time. And Gould does a fine job of showing how traumatic the event is--it's how the ... more

Okay, I've just read several reviews that tear this book apart because of the rape scene at the start of the novel. I must say that while many of you may be shocked, terrible things like sexual assault occur all the time. And Gould does a fine job of showing how traumatic the event is--it's how the character learns that he has a special gift (if you can call it that). At any rate, I hope that the realism in this novel doesn't deter too many people from taking the opportunity to journey through its pages. If you or your kids can't handle explicit reality mingled with well-crafted science fiction, then I guess it's unfortunate that you'll never have the pleasure of reading this book. If you can handle the fact that bad things happen to kids, don't miss this book. It's one of the best books I've read in a long time.